How’s this for juxtaposition? Just as the finishing touches are being put on Cañon City’s new track and lights at Citizens’ Stadium, there are serious doubts that Florence High School will play any home games at Husky Stadium this season.

The two schools, which are separated by roughly 10 miles, or 20 minutes, are heading opposite ways in terms of facilities.

Cañon City, a 3A football school, is slated to receive 32 new lights for the field today, set to be installed in time for the fall sports season. Two weeks from now, the paving on a new track should be finished.

They were much-needed upgrades. According to the Cañon City Daily Record, the track project was delayed a week after “workers found out how bad the asphalt under the track was.” And the lights will better light the field — despite the actual number of lights going from 78 to 32.

“You’ll notice a big difference,” Jeff Peterson, who’s managing the project for Cañon City schools, told the Daily Record. “Everything will be directed at the field.”

Both projects are expected to be finished in time for the boys soccer team to open its season Sept. 2.

Meanwhile, in Florence, there are troubles with Husky Stadium. The football team, which competes in 2A, is already planning to open its season at Fremont Middle School because shifting in the stands has left them falling toward the football field, according to the Daily Record:

... but cracks have caused Husky Stadium in Florence to close -- and the football team scheduling games at Fremont Middle School.

The Florence-Penrose School District has yet to receive final reports on the damage, superintendent Rhonda Vendetti told the Daily Record — though the KOAA report estimated total cost at $4 million. (Damage wasn’t limited to the stadium.)

Once those final reports come in, they’ll put out a notice seeking bids, which, she says, will take “two weeks, possibly more,” to gather.

“At that time,” she told the paper, “the board would make a decision about moving forward with the fix or not.”

So, yes, things are up in the air at Husky Stadium. The ultimate holdup?

The general consensus is that they’re going to have to pin it back to the bedrock. [Vendetti] said it will take a pretty sophisticated engineering plan in order to do that.

As of now, the board is not considering building a new stadium at a different location.

A board meeting is set for Aug. 8.

Short stuff:

Don’t miss this great story on Mullen wideout Guy Johnson, who is living with former Bronco Rod Smith and his son, Rod Smith, Jr.. Sidenote to that story: Rod Smith, Jr., plays for one-time Mullen rival Cherry Creek.

Lutheran — the resulting high school from the merged Lutheran-Parker and Denver Lutheran — has hired John Amschel as its baseball coach. Amschel graduated from Denver Lutheran in 2000. After playing college baseball at Concordia in Wisconsin, he coached a C team in the area, and has since served as the C team coach at Thomas Jefferson and was an assistant at Lutheran-Parker for the past five seasons. He’s also been the head soccer coach at Denver Lutheran and Lutheran-Parker for the past six years.

Neil Devlin, originally from the Philadelphia area, has covered high school sports in Colorado for more than 30 years, writing about the people, athletes and events that encompass the Rocky Mountain prep sports world.